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Prince (Music)

 Prince (Music)
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 Prince (Music)
 Prince (Music)
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 Prince
 Prince (Music)
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 Influences: Santana, The Isley Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Todd Rundgren, Joni Mitchell, Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Al Green, Led Zeppelin, George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, Rick James, Chuck Berry, Little RichardMove over, James Brown. There's a new sex machine in town, and his name's Prince.Prince Rogers Nelson (June 7, 1958 – April 21, 2016), generally known simply as "Prince," "The Purple One," or "His Royal Badness" to fans, was probably the most famous musician from Minnesota since Bob Dylan to become incredibly successful and carve a place for himself in the annals of pop music history.Known as a multi-instrumentalist who could play several instruments pretty epically (keyboards, synthesizers, guitar, bass, drums, drum machine) and a highly idiosyncratic (sometimes bordering on Control Freak) songwriter, Prince had a future rock star's obligatory chaotic childhood and parent separation, though his mother has stated he only had "normal disagreements" with his father, and other people have suggested it wasn't anywhere near as bad as depicted in Purple Rain or songs like "Papa" (food for thought: Prince also co-wrote several songs with his father John L. Nelson). After running away from home and staying with his neighbors (where he met future bandmate André Cymone), Prince entered his first band in the early seventies, playing piano and guitar. A demo recorded in 1976 brought the attention of a few major record labels, and he wound up signing with Warner Bros. Records because they offered him the most creative freedom (commence laughter). His first two albums for the label, For You and Prince, were full of rather generic, disco-influenced R&B, recorded in one-man band mode. Prince nevertheless began to showcase his overwhelming preoccupation with sex and matters of the flesh in general: his first single was called "Soft and Wet"note Yes, JoJo fans, this is where the name of JoJolion-Josuke's Stand comes from; and his 1979 hit "I Wanna Be Your Lover" featured the line, "I wanna be the only one you come for," in the chorus.With Dirty Mind, Prince finally hit upon his Signature Style that would hereafter be called "The Minneapolis Sound": a fusion of funk (by way of Parliament-Funkadelic, Jimi Hendrix and Sly and the Family Stone), New Wave (lots of robotic synths and drum machines), pop and rock. The sound was largely defined by its clean guitar sound, the fusion of the LinnDrum drum machine and live percussion, and the use of keyboards as both a horn section and as extensions of the guitar. It also helped that by Dirty Mind, Prince had assembled a good backing band (bassist André Cymone, guitarist Dez Dickerson, keyboardists Lisa Coleman and Dr. Fink, and drummer Bobby Z.). Lyrically, Dirty Mind began Prince's descent into full-on Intercourse with You-mode, as showcased by such songs as "Head" (about him tricking a bride on her way to getting married into giving him head) and "Sister" (about really Squicky Brother–Sister Incest). The album was also recorded entirely by Prince on all the instruments except for "Head", which included vocals from Lisa Coleman and Dr. Fink contributing a noisy, atonal keyboard solo.Unsurprisingly, this all proved to be a bit too much for America in The '80s (his bizarre wardrobe certainly didn't help matters) - while opening for The Rolling Stones in 1981, Prince got pelted with trash and booed off the stage. Still, he soldiered on and released Controversy, which was pretty much Dirty Mind again, but with more confident and exploratory songwriting (general consensus has pretty much branded Controversy with the It's the Same, Now It Sucks! iron).By this time, Prince's backing band had crystallized into its most famous incarnation: Brown Mark - bass guitar, vocals Bobby Z. - drums Lisa Coleman - keyboards, vocals (generally credited as "Wendy and Lisa") Wendy Melvoin - guitar, vocals (generally credited as "Wendy and Lisa", replaced Dez Dickerson in 1983) Dr. Fink - keyboards, vocalsNow christened "The Revolution", Prince made 1999, his breakthrough album into the US mainstream - mostly on the backs of the hit singles "1999" (a catchy funk tune about nuclear armageddon) and "Little Red Corvette" (an entire Dual Meaning Song using cars as a metaphor for a bad relationship), with the latter being a massive success on both sides of the Atlantic.Prince's next project was a small film where he played a troubled musical prodigy who is trying to become a star despite his Jerkass behavior threatening to drive away his bandmates. The Revolution and other associates all appeared using their real names, except Prince's character who was named "The Kid". The film was called Purple Rain, with French composer Michel Colombier composing the score. 1984 thus turned out to be Prince's best year: the soundtrack album Purple Rain was a massive success, spending 6 consecutive months at #1 on the US charts; the film got nominated for Academy Awards and grossed over $68 million at the box office ($186 million when adjusted for inflation); and four of the singles drawn from it were smash hits: "When Doves Cry", "Let's Go Crazy", "Purple Rain" and "I Would Die 4 U", with the first two becoming Prince's first two #1 singles in the US, and "When Doves Cry" becoming the biggest-selling single of 1984 according to Billboard. Purple Rain (the album) not only formalized Prince's burgeoning Xtreme Kool Letterz spelling system but also showed a more theatrical yet still highly catchy variation on the Minneapolis sound, emphasizing a stronger lead guitar presence alongside more classical elements – a recipe for crossover success.In this period, Prince also got in trouble due to his explicit style. Then-Senator Al Gore's wife Tipper was outraged by hearing her 12-year-old daughter listening to the explicit lyrics of "Darling Nikki" and founded the much-hated Parents Music Resource Center (yes, the inventors of the "Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics" sticker).Following a successful tour marred by occasional tension within the band, Prince & the Revolution released another successful album, Around the World in a Day, this time amplifying the psychedelic elements hinted at with Purple Rain to a vaguely Beatlesque sound. The resulting tour worsened intra-band tension due to Prince's recruitment of additional members (Susannah Melvoin, Eric Leeds, Atlanta Bliss, Jerome Benton, Wally Salford, and Greg Brooks). He also began a new film project named Under the Cherry Moon – a dramatic work starring Prince and Jerome Benton as thieves attempting to swindle the fortunes of a Parisian heiress. While Purple Rain had a lukewarm-but-positive reception, Cherry Moon was savaged by critics due to bad plot and acting, but the film's soundtrack album Parade did well on the charts, with its lead single "Kiss" becoming Prince's third #1 in the US. For the first time, Prince began selling better in Europe than in the United States.Since the intra-band tension had grown to severe levels by now, Prince disbanded The Revolution in 1986, firing everyone besides Dr. Fink, and Brown Mark, who had quit on his own. A new lineup was assembled, including guitarist Miko Weaver; drummer Sheila E.; Bliss and Leeds on horns; bassist Levi Seacer, Jr; and keyboardist Boni Boyer. Prince then unveiled Sign '☮' the Times in 1987, Prince's first solo effort after the disintegration of The Revolution. Prince was already abandoning the Minneapolis sound for leaner funk production at this point, basing it off of live show jams from the previous few years (one of which is included on Sign.) While the album garnered a much better reception critically and commercially, it marked the beginning of Prince's feud with Warner Bros. Records, after they scrapped his plan to originally release a triple album, Crystal Ball, and forced him to reduce it to a double album - possibly a rare case of positive Executive Meddling. (The Crystal Ball title would go on to be the title of a triple album of rarities released eleven years later.) Prince was still able to have his untitled follow-up album of dark funk replaced with 1988's Lovesexy, a positive funk-pop work that was partially Hijacked by Jesus. Despite Prince's popularity beginning to wane, he was then tapped to create the soundtrack for the 1989 Tim Burton Batman film along with Danny Elfman (Michael Jackson had been in talks to do it, but it never panned out). The soundtrack scored Prince his 4th #1 in the US with "Batdance".After the rest of his Revolution bandmates drifted away (Dr. Fink, Sheila E., Leeds, Bliss, and so on), Prince debuted a new backing band, The New Power Generation, in 1990. Its members have included: Levi Seacer, Jr. - rhythm guitar (1990-1993) Kat Dyson - rhythm guitar (1996-1997) "Rev." Michael Scott - rhythm guitar (1997-2001, 2004, 2006) Sonny T. - bass (1990-1996) Rhonda Smith - bass (1996-2004) Rosie Gaines - keyboards, vocals (1990-1992) Tommy Barbarella - keyboards (1991-1996) Kip Blackshire - keyboards, backing vocals (1999-2001) Renato Neto - keyboards (2002-2008) Michael Bland - drums (1990-1996) Kirk Johnson - percussion, backing vocals, dancing, drums, drum machine programming (1990-1993, 2000-2001) John Blackwell - drums (2000-2004) Maceo Parker - horns (1999-2007) Tony Morris - horns (1998-2000) Greg Boyer - horns (2001-2008) Tony M. - rapping, dancing (1990-1993) Mayte Garcia - backing vocals, dancing (1992-1996) Mr. Hayes - keyboards (1993-2012)... and many others.Prince's introduction for the New Power Generation was Graffiti Bridge, a sequel to Purple Rain, in which The Kid is challenged by Morris Day of The Time into a battle of wits and music over the affection of an angel-like female character. The film fell out of the box office quickly, with praise going solely towards the music of the film. Undaunted, Prince released Diamonds and Pearls, the first album under the name Prince and the New Power Generation in 1991. Combining funk with new jack swing and contemporary rhythm and blues, Diamonds yielded the highly successful singles "Gett Off" and "Cream", the latter being Prince's fifth and final #1 hit in the US. The Love Symbol album followed (so named after the unpronounceable symbol that graces its cover), which rounded out Prince's radio marketability for nearly a decade, with the singles "7" and "My Name Is Prince."It was at this point that Prince's commercial success and audience began dwindling. Prince began publicly feuding with Warner Brothers over the terms of his contract. Albums of questionable quality were seeing release as a means to get out of his contract – including, unsuccessfully, the release of the shelved Black Album in 1994. Prince even wrote "Slave" across his face for public appearances, and changed his name to the unpronounceable "love symbol" in 1993, leading to the nickname "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince" courtesy of a befuddled media and public who had no clue what to actually call him. Like The Revolution, the New Power Generation only received co-billing credit on three albums. This band stuck around well into the 2000s, however.Prince's freedom from Warner Bros. came in 1996 when he promptly released a triple album titled Emancipation. He continued to release albums, playing to a small but dedicated group of fans while his work went largely unnoticed in pop culture. A failed attempt at recapturing success, Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic, was released in 1999. When his contract with Warner Bros expired in 2000, Prince made a statement that he was changing his name back to Prince, rather than the symbol he had adopted to detach himself from them. Prince made another bid for the mainstream with the album Musicology, this time with a successful pair of singles and a performance opening the 2004 Grammy Awards.Prince ended up holding a larger audience than during his off-label years in The '90s but still not matching his peak popularity. He simultaneously released albums through regular distribution channels as well as online exclusive albums, eventually settling on platforms that benefit him the most artistically and financially (such as 20TEN being released as a free covermount on some European newspapers.) In 2012, he became the frontman for an otherwise all-female rock band, 3RDEYEGIRL. The band also simultaneously acted as Prince's current backing band, transforming many of his older songs into classic hard rock tracks in the vein of his own "Bambi" and "Temptation"; and were sometimes augmented by the NPG Hornz. In 2014, he and Warner Bros. kissed and made up, and he released two new albums, ART OFFICIAL AGE and PLECTRUMELECTRUM (with 3RDEYEGIRL).Prince reportedly had hundreds upon hundreds of unreleased songs, albums, and even movies in his "vault". If true, he had so much music in the vault that a new album could have been released every year for the next 100 years. Prince wrote more than one thousand songs, making him a poster boy for Archive Panic. Most were released under his own name, some were released under pseudonyms and pen names, while others were recorded and released by other artists. Associates and "spinoff bands" of the latter mostly involved others recording vocals over his own songs with his own lyrics (Vanity 6, Apollonia 6, Mazarati, Madhouse, The Family), with some such spinoff bands managing to win creative independence (Sheila E., The Time), or others not being involved with him at all (Wendy & Lisa - considering Prince's conflicts with them led to The Revolution breaking up, that's not at all surprising.) We have a page for them over at Prince's Associates.He won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe, and an Academy Award, and was one of the few people to have simultaneously managed a #1 movie, album, and single in the same year (Purple Rain, Music from the Motion Picture Purple Rain and "When Doves Cry" / "Let's Go Crazy", respectively. "When Doves Cry" was also crowned the song of 1984 by Billboard.) He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the first year he was eligible in 2004. In that same year Rolling Stone ranked Prince #28 on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. 2007 saw some of his biggest exposure ever when he played the halftime show of Super Bowl XLI (notable for being performed in a thunderstorm - "Purple Rain" indeed!), which is still considered one of the best halftime shows ever.Even in his mid-50s, Prince never slowed down. His performances never became less impassioned but his intense dancing style finally caught up with him when in 2016, he began having severe hip pains, for which he was prescribed painkillers. That April, he was found dead in his Minnesota compound at the age of 57 from what was originally described as flu-like symptoms, later revealed to be an opioid overdose.Behind him, the Purple One left quite a legacy, and the Prince estate keep that legacy in the public eye with reissues of albums like 1999, Purple Rain and Sign o' the Times, all of which are remastered and generously expanded with single edits, extended versions, and previously unreleased outtakes. They've also slowly rolled out some posthumous albums, most notably Originals, i.e. the original demos of songs he went on to give to other artists (such as The Bangles' "Manic Monday"). And the estate is only just getting started.He was apparently really good at basketball; just ask Charlie Murphy.note He actually did play basketball in high school, and multiple tour managers have described how Prince and his entourage would sometimes rent a local community center or gymnasium for a few hours before or after a show to play a few games. Micki Free even states Murphy wasn't exaggerating at all.
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